Bellarmine on Psalm XLIV: Verse 3

Verse 3

Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.

Speciosus forma prae filiis hominum, diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis; propterea benedixit te Deus in aeternum.

He begins by praising Christ and firstly he praises His beauty, then His eloquence, His strength and His vigour; thirdly the qualities of His mind and heart, and finally, His divine and royal dignity and power, to which he adds external things, namely the nobility of His robes and palaces. He starts with beauty, either because he is describing a bridegroom and in a bridegroom beauty is desired above all else; or because he is progressing from the least to the greatest and beauty yields to eloquence, eloquence to vigour, vigour to virtues, and virtues to divinity. And so he says: “Thou art beautiful above the sons of men.” The sentence seems to be abrupt and obscure, since he has not added who is beautiful; but, as we have noted above: “My heart hath uttered a good word,”[1] that is, from the fullness of the contemplation (revelation), some part is passed on, but not everything. The sense therefore is: “It is no wonder, O Christ, that Thou art called the Beloved,[2] for “Thou art 

beautiful above the sons of men;” he says “above the sons of men,” and does not add above the angelic spirits, because God the Word was made man, not an angel, and so he says: Thou, O Beloved, art man, but beautiful above men. And Christ truly is beautiful above men : for if you consider His divinity, you will see he was foretold to be of infinite beauty; if you consider the spiritual beauty of His soul, Christ is beautiful above all created spirits; if you consider the splendour of His glorified body, it is more beautiful than the sun, and the sun and moon admire His beauty. Next follow the words: “grace is poured abroad in thy lips,” with which words he praises the same Christ for the grace of His speech, which he commends as a miracle of beauty in itself. He says “ grace ...poured abroad in ... lips,” to show that the grace of speech in Christ is permanent and natural, not acquired through study or practice. In the Gospels, we read in Luke iv: “They wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth.”[3] And in John vii: “ Never did man speak like this man.”[4] Sts. Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Philip, but especially St. Matthew, experienced the force of His words and the power within His speech; they were suddenly and irresistibly drawn and persuaded by a simple call (vocation) and, leaving everything, they followed Him. But more wonderful still was that the wind, the sea, fevers and, finally, the dead obeyed (His commands): but this ought not to seem (so) surprising, if the divine and substantial Word should utter the sweetest and most powerful words of grace through the flesh He (had) assumed. It continues: “Therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.” These words may have a twofold meaning, each one being correct : (Firstly), it is possible to take the word propterea / therefore as meaning because, or, propterea quod / because of which, so that the sense is: “Thou art beautiful above the sons of men, and grace is poured abroad in thy lips,” because of which “God hath blessed thee for ever,” so that the blessing of God is the eternal cause of such great beauty and grace. Blessing in this context means the grace of the hypostatic union, which is to endure in eternity; for thence, as from a fountain head, will flow forth all the gifts which are fused together in Christ’s humanity. (Secondly), it is however possible, following Chrysostom and others, to take propterea / therefore as being a particle[5] signifying an effect, so

that the sense is: “Because Thou art beautiful above the sons of men and grace is poured abroad in thy lips, therefore hath God blessed thee for ever,” that is, because Thou art lovable and graceful above all men, therefore God loves Thee above all men and hath blessed Thee eternally. From these words it is not to be concluded that Christ was not loved and blessed by His Father before the appearance of His beauty and the grace of His speech; but this was merited as a further mark of love: as Christ Himself says in John x: “Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.”[6] See also the Apostle in Philipp. ii: “ He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names:”[7] It seems however that the first interpretation should be preferred.

[1] In Verse 1.

[2] See Title and Theme.

[3] And all gave testimony to him: and they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth, and they said: Is not this the son of Joseph? Et omnes testimonium illi dabant : et mirabantur in verbis gratiae, quae procedebant de ore ipsius, et dicebant : Nonne hic est filius Joseph? [Luc. iv. 22]

[4] The ministers answered: Never did man speak like this man. Responderunt ministri : Numquam sic locutus est homo, sicut hic homo. [John vii. 46] 

[5] Any of a set of words (sometimes treated as a minor part of speech and sometimes including affixes) that are typically short and indeclinable; a function word; e.g., 1924   O. Jespersen Philos. Gram. 87   I therefore propose to revert to the old terminology by which these four classes [sc. adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections] are treated as one called ‘particles’.

[6] Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. Propterea me diligit Pater : quia ego pono animam meam, ut iterum sumam eam. [Ioan. x. 17]

[7] He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross. Humiliavit semetipsum factus obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis. [For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names: Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum, et donavit illi nomen, quod est super omne nomen :[Philipp. ii. 8-9].

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.